Who Is Your Father?

"How's Ed doing?" I'm asked the question often. And what should I say?

Do I say he is doing fine?

But GBM is not something that you just recover from and go on your merry way. Not without a miracle. But Ed is feeling great. His latest blood work shows that all his labs are within the normal range. Ed has been tired recently, but he has also been coming home, gulping down supper, and spending his evenings working in his home business in the basement. With those long work hours he has an excuse to feel tired.

But I think most valuable of all is that we truly have a peace about the future. We know that our lives are in God's hands. We can wake up each morning, do what we are called to do for the day, and not worry about the future.

A few weeks ago we had a visitor to our church who shared the morning message. (Many of you may know Timo Miller from Nicaragua.) He gave a very simple but clear message from Matthew 6.

Most of us can quote the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. "Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, They will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread..."

Several times during the message Timo asked, "Who is your Father? Is He trustworthy?"

So simple, yet so powerful. God will give us daily bread - everything I need - so why do I worry about tomorrow? When I truly claim God as my Father and understand His character, His power, His dependability, His love - I have peace.

The last few weeks have been busy. We bought a new van (a story for another day). My twelve-year-old son took part, for the first time, in the great Pennsylvania sport of deer hunting and brought home his first white-tail. (Yes, that also means he is fully recovered from his lawn mower accident.)

We have also had some not-so-good things these last weeks. We mourn to learn of a friend's diagnosis of glioblastoma. Several other friends have had serious illnesses and long hospital stays.

On the minor but still not fun category - our youngest daughter contracted a terrible rash. She had huge blisters around her mouth and covering a large portion of her legs. I suspected hand-foot-and-mouth disease since I knew she had been exposed, but this rash looked so unlike the typical rash that I took her to the doctor. Two doctors examined her and said they had never saw a rash like hers. We still don't know what she had, but thankfully she recovered quickly.

I love living in a place with the beauty of October. Maybe I enjoyed it more this year because we don't take even a day for granted.

We also had some fun events the last weeks. Here are a few photo highlights.



 One afternoon we went with a few friends to a pumpkin farm that has activities for children.

Such as slides...

And huge trampolines.

I took the older children on the corn maze, 

While the younger ones enjoyed the corn bin.

 What is more beautiful than the brilliant blue skies of October?

My whole family spent a weekend camping together. 

As always, food is a highlight of camping.

Saturday brunch was fritatta made in dutch ovens and coffee cake.

The barn was the site of lots of game playing.

Grilling chicken for more fabulous eating.

 Corn hole tournament.

Making music.

Sunday morning pancakes.

But the highlight for me was the service Sunday morning.

We sat around a circle and sang together. The men shared some insights from Scripture and then we joined together in prayer for my brother who is serving God in Iraq.

October, with all its beauty, only gives a glimpse of our Heavenly Father who pours out the blessing of grace and peace.

Who is your Father?